With Hurricane Imelda hanging a hard right and avoiding landfall on the Carolina coast, the Grand Strand dodged potential impacts to life and property. But the storm is taking one valuable resource — sand, and lots of it.
Bringing strong waves, rip currents, high surf, heavy rains and persistent winds, Imelda is the latest tropical system to contribute to major beach erosion since the area’s last renourishment project in 2018. Beachgoers are seeing signs of escarpment, or sheer walls of sand, as well as total washouts in lower-lying areas of the Strand, but help finally is on the way.
The Cabana Shores section of Myrtle Beach is just one area of the Grand Strand showing signs of escarpment, or sheer walls of sand. The upcoming emergency beach renourishment project aims to replace 2 million cubic yards of sand starting in December.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ $72 million emergency beach renourishment project is slated to start mobilizing in October before depositing fresh sand along a 26-mile stretch of coastline in December. That’s an additional two million cubic yards of sand, or about 200,000 dump-truck loads, directly from the ocean floor…